Song of the South

Song of the South is a 1946 feature film by Walt Disney, based on the Uncle Remus[?] cycle of stories by Joel Chandler Harris. It was one of Disney's earliest feature films to combine live action footage with animation and was the first Disney feature film to hire live actors in lead roles. The live actors tell the folk tales of the adventures of Brer Rabbit and his friends; these anthropomorphic animal characters appear in animation.

Set in the U.S. South shortly after the American Civil War, the story does not follow the original frame story by Harris. While Disney Studios tried to avoid the more offensive stereotypes of African Americans still common in the 1940s, Disney also tried to make sure that nothing in the film would be objected to by the White segregationists then in political control of the U.S. South. Some critics found the results of this attempted balancing act not completely successfull. Blacks are shown as subservient to Whites, scenes show Blacks picking cotton by hand while singing contentedly, and it is not made clear in the film if the days of slavery are over or not. The framing story has therefore been accused of idealizing the harsh lifes of Blacks on rural southern plantations in the Jim Crow era.

James Baskett the leading black actor in the film was reportedly unable to attend the premiere as no hotel would rent him a room.

Although the film has been re-released several times, Disney has avoided making it available on home video tape or DVD because the frame story was deemed racist.

The Splash Mountain attraction at Disneyland features characters and songs from this film.

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American country music band Alabama had a hit song called "Song of the South".